what's next for audra mcdonald??

[musicaltheatreman]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:13pm

since rasin will be closeing soon and she tony # 4 i wonder what she will be doing next?? i hope she is back on broadway soon in a musical!!!! i would love to see her in my fair lady!!! what do you guys think? :)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:20pm

She may be starring Michael John LaChiusa's "R Shoman" sometime this season, though I'm not sure whether the details have been worked out yet.

[EvelynNesbit1906]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:20pm

Yes, back in a Broadway musical but PLEASE, an original one!

I also heard that a couple of years ago, she was auditioning for a role in the film version of Rent. Maybe she's still interested...

[musicaltheatreman]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:26pm

do you know what "R Shoman" is about??? i have not heard about this. i also remeber something her doing about a musical version of the judy garland movie a star is born!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:28pm

Audra begins performances of "R Shomon" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival July 21st (just 10 days after "Raisin" closes). I don't know what, if any, plans there are for the show after the Williamstown run, but one imagines that if it's very well received, there's a chance we'll see it in NYC.
http://www.berkshiresweek.com/060304/default.asp?id=article06

[Mattio98]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:47pm

Audra does "See What I Wanna See" from R. Shomon on her CD, Happy Songs. Kate Shindle also did it at Standing Ovations.

[BillyLawlor]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 8:48pm

I don't think there's a role for her in the Rent Movie. Maybe Joanne? She'd be great in anything. She has more Tonys that Bernadette Peters, and she's so young. Four Tonys! I'd love to see a musical written for her.

[BWayBoy88]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 10:25pm

Hopefully she will have a staring role in something. She is LONG overdue for playing the leading lady.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 11:07pm

She starred in "Marie Christine," which was written for her by Michael John La Chiusa and had a short run on Broadway a few seasons ago (she received a Tony nomination for lead actress for her performance). This lead role in "R Shomon" was also written for her by La Chiusa and there are several developing musicals still in the workshop phase written by composers like Guettel, Lippa and, I believe, Jason Robert Brown that have lead roles written specifically for MacDonald. Basically, it seems like just about every musical theatre composer of this current generation is writing a show with her in mind - it's just a question of one of them coming up with something commercial enough to land on Broadway -- they're all very talented and critically lauded, but none of them have written a hit show yet (perhaps they'll have their breakthrough with Audra in the lead).

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/20/04 at 11:42pm

Commercial...or good?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 12:36am

Both. Marie Christine, The Wild Party (both of them), Parade, Floyd Collins, Saturn Returns, etc... were all good, intelligent shows, but none of them ever found an audience (or enough of an audience), in some cases losing their entire investments, costing their producers millions. If these guys develop reputations for only writing "arty" shows with limited appeal that always lose money, they'll have trouble getting their future shows produced and find themselves relegated to the fringes of mainstream theatre. They can write whatever they want, but if they want their work to go to Broadway (as they have all said they do) rather than getting produced for three and for nights at music festivals or BAM or limited engagements in Europe, they're going to have to find a marriage between musical experimentation and the musical maintstream.

Sondheim, Bernstein, Yeston and Tesori, to name four, are/were brilliant composers capable of writing complex and challenging music that advances the entire artform, that is still accessible to the mainstream ear. Until, these young composers can figure out how to do that (and Guettel may have pulled it off with his new "Light in the Piazza" that heads to Lincoln Center in the Spring) their impact on the contempory American musical will be a very limited one. I, for one, hope that they can figure it out -- the American theatre needs them.

Updated On: 6/21/04 at 12:36 AM

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 9:31am

So...R Shoman is a musical based on ideas from Rashomon...which is a show I did in college - its a fantastic play, and if he sticks to the premise (even updating it and changing the characters) it will have to be pretty fascinating - I loved doing the play and it was well recieved even in a small town in florida in the '80s. I like LaChuisa's writing and think this is a great idea - you GO Audra!

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 9:58am

Margo, what a well-written argument! This is exactly true. I, personally, have found so many things to enjoy in the work of Guettel, Brown, and LaChiusa and could wish all day that what they have written could fly with mainstream audiences. That said, it just isn't going to happen and they have to find some happy medium (LaChiusa, in a NY Times article, has said he would never do that, although he's clearly capable of writing music that is very accessible) and I hope that "Piazza" is going to do that for Guettel and that something very soon will do so for Brown. Of the three, Brown's work is definitely the most mainstream so I imagine it's just a matter of time in finding a project that also flies with mainstream audiences (Urban Cowboy obviously wasn't it).

[kyle.]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 11:31am

audra is also starring as dot in sunday in the park with george at the revinia festival the first weekend in september.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 11:52am

I hope I am wrong about this, but having seen PIAZZA I don't think this will be the huge success to make Adam a household name. It's a beautiful chamber musical with two amazing performances (see you at the Tonys next year Victoria Clark and Celia Keenan-Bloger), but I fear it is not "main stream" enough to be a huge hit. Again, I really hope I am wrong.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 12:47pm

That's ok if it's not a huge hit. I also want to see Vickie at the Tonys. She is a wonderfully talented performer whose time has come.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 1:04pm

This role should do it for her.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 1:51pm

I completely agree with Sueleen about Piazza. The score is less accessible and the book is less dramatic than Brown's Parade (and we know how well that sold), so I don't think it will find much of an audience on Broadway, however, it truly deserves one. Victoria Clark delivers an unforgettable classic performance along the lines of Merman in Gypsy, Martin in South Pacific, and Russell in Wonderful Town. She is perfect in a role that fits her perfectly. I couldn't imagine anyone else in the part. I walked away from the show at the Goodman in Chicago thinking, "THAT was a Tony performance". It is one of those shows that is very understated, but the residual effects of it are resounding and I kick myself for not going back and seeing it again.

As for McDonald, I'm excited about R. Shoman and wish I could get out to Williamsburg to see it. I've loved her in every show I've seen her in and I love LaChiusa's work. It's a shame they both didn't win Tonys that year, because they truly deserved them (McDonald for Marie Christine and LaChiusa for Wild Party).

[kyle.]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 2:42pm

i saw piazza 9 times in chicago ($12 student tickets) and i hope to god it has a nice little run on broadway. i mean, its no hairspray or wicked, its not going to run for years and years. but i would like to see it run for a year? maybe two? is it just me or does it seem like shows at lincoln center last very long. i know a lot of them are limited run shows, and are smaller production (like piazza), but still.

it had a great run in chicago for two months. it was sold out or very close to it every time i went. with good marketing i think it can do well. it could do very well with tourists. especially women. the logo is very romantic and sophisticated looking. unfortunately, if tourist families want to see something romantic they will head on over to beauty and the beast.

the first time i saw the show i thought it was okay. i went in really wanting to like it, im a huge fan of guettels and of celia keenan-bolgers. for days after i found myself humming tunes and thinking, "god what is that song...i really like it but i cant think of what show its from...what in the world am i humming?" then i finally realized it was piazza. so i went back a second time. my second time was when i really feel in love with the songs and the story. every time i saw it after that i fell more and more in love with it. clarks closing number...i was in tears. every time. just wonderful.

i agree about clark and keenan-bolger. they were both FANTASTIC. i think the whole cast was perfect. but clarks performance was tony worthy without a doubt. Updated On: 6/21/04 at 02:42 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 6/21/04 at 3:32pm

The issue with Lincoln Center Theatre is that they only have two stages -- the Vivian Beaumont (Broadway-eligible) and the Mitzi Newhouse (off-Broadway). Because they have a full season booked for those theatres, there's very little lee-way if something turns out to be a hit. Like in the case of "Henry IV" that won the Tony for Best Revival this year, it was a sold out hit and they extended it as long as they could, but it had to close early, because Christopher Plummer's Lear was set to open three weeks later (and tickets had already been sold for that, so there was no way to delay it).

There was talk of moving it to another Broadway house, but all the additional costs -- the limited run contracts LCT has with Equity to pay the LORT rate to extras was set to expire meaning payroll would increase considerably; a new set would have to be built for a new theatre -- not to mention, the show was designed and staged for the Beaumont's thrust stage and would have to be reconceived for a proscenium house; they'd incur theatre rental costs which they didn't have at the Beaumont -- made any move impractical.

I believe "Light at The Piazza" will be the last show of LCT's 2004-2005 season at the Beaumont, so perhaps they'll be able to extend into summer if there's sufficient ticket demand.

[onlylisab]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 9:35am

I would love to see Audra come out with a live recording. She's just amazing. I always look forward to see what she's gonna do next.

[robbiej]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 10:26am

Oh how wishes come true!

I believe her recent concert at Zankel Hall featuring the world premiere of the song cycle THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS was recorded.

It was a wonderful evening and she sounded SPECTACULAR!

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 10:26pm

..."Marie Christine, Wild Party (both of them), Parade, Floyd Collins, Saturn Returns, etc. were all good, intelligent shows but none of them ever found an audience..."
For good reason: the dramaturgy was feeble, their scores undistinguished and devoid of emotional appeal. In short, neither good nor intelligent.
Those who work in the theatre profession are in the communications business. If you can't communicate, you're not in business. To quote Tennessee Williams: "...I would never release a play---however profound in subject matter--till I felt it had sufficient theatricality to make it commercial. Any play that is not "commercial'--that is 'good theatre'--is necessarily still-born..."
In other words, the only reason people consider a theater experience 'arty' is if its concepts are too marginal or academic for people to understand, or if it's an ego-driven project. When such words are used, it admits that the 'artist' did not convey whatever he/she was trying to say in a format that a large group of people find involving, a liability in a populist genre like musical theatre. Too often what is perceived as today's 'innovation' (a new species) is tomorrow's three-headed cow (aberration, not innovation).
There is nothing wrong with simplicity, a lesson most contemporary musical theatre composers, ambitious though they may be, could heed. Beethoven's notebooks show how hard he struggled to achieve simplicity. It occasionally happens that profound music is difficult to understand but it does not follow that music that is difficult to understand is profound. Most difficult-to-understand music is simply unclear (in LaChiusa's case, it's also illogical). No less an iconoclast than Stravinsky (who I've quoted on these boards before) has said,
"I am sorry but I claim that in the aria 'La donna e mobile,' there is more substance and more true invention that in the tetralogy (of Wagner's Ring cycle)." Amen, Igor. In other words, the value of the music is not proportional to the quantity or intricacy of its technical apparatus. The audience wants to be delighted, inspired, entertained, not reassured that the composer is educated and working hard (or emotionally constipated).
Correspondingly, a piece of music is not good just because it's popular nor is it bad just because it's popular, just as not every show that finds an audience is deserving of one. However, if it's deserving, it will find an audience.
Lest there should be someone who responds with the canard that the above shows are 'too good for the average man," let me just say: Bulls--t. The audiences who attend theater are the same educated people who also attend museums, symphonies, ballets, operas and can handle complexity, ambivalence and dissonance. As audience members, they may not have cachet as individuals but, collectively, they are smarter than any writer who ever lived.
This dismissive stance towards audiences is an altogether recent phenomenon. Forty years ago, George Abbott called a postmortem the morning after the opening of TENDERLOIN to announce, "Gentlemen, I thought I had a concept. I was wrong." Or Oscar Hammerstein, speaking of ALLEGRO, commented, "I overestimated the audience's ability to identify with the leading character (and his situation)," i.e. it wasn't credible. Nowadays the general attitude amongst musical theatre writers is: if the show doesn't find an audience, THE AUDIENCE IS WRONG. I have yet to hear ONE of the new generation of musical theater writers take responsiblity for any of their endless number of flops. Instead we're subjected to stories in the TIMES about LaChiusa complaining that he had to sell his piano or Jason Robert Brown threatening to leave the business and go to Europe.
Fellas, you've got the audiences you deserve.

Updated On: 6/22/04 at 10:26 PM

[Mattio98]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 10:33pm

Well I'm a fan/audience member of the aforementioned composers so I guess that would be a compliment to them. I thank you on their behalf.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/22/04 at 10:38pm

La Cage aux folles, baby, la cage aux folles.